The magic of Venice
by Vlindervin
Summary: Solangelo goes to Venice. I like to imagine Hades payed for them or something. Nico is scared of flying. In Venice they mostly have fun. Nico wants to go visit his childhood house, but when he gets there he's overwhelmed by the memories. They also share a kiss in the rain Solangelo one shot. Kind of.


'I still don't understand why I can't just shadow-travel us there. It's so much easier.', Nico groaned, waiting in line to get onto the airplane. Will was standing next to him with a stupid grin plastered on his face. His golden curls were moving up and down. He hadn't been able to sit still all day long. He turned to face Nico and his blue eyes glimmered with excitement.

'Because I'm a child of the sun-god. So obviously shadows are bad for my energy. Yours too for that matter. And I want to be in top form for our trip. We can't risk one of us fainting suddenly and ruining everything. I want this to be perfect.'

'Yeah, yeah.', Nico waved him off. Will had a point and they already had this conversation and they had both decided it would be better to go by plane. That didn't stop Nico from being nervous, though. He had never flown a plane before, mostly because he'd been born in a time people didn't actually do that, but also because of his relationship with Zeus. 'I know. I'm just nervous, I guess.'

'I know you are.', Will put his arm around Nico's shoulder and pulled him close to him. He pulled him in a hug and put his head on top of Nico's black hair. 'It's not as scary as you think, though. It'll be alright.'

Nico let himself get lost in the warmth of Will's arms and the way Will smelled. He smelled like spring and sunlight and summer rain after a hot day and _Will._ It was a smell he would forever associate with safety and happiness. He found it crazy to think how being in Will's arms could calm all his fears and make him feel like nothing could go wrong.

The line moved and Will let Nico go so they were able to move. It didn't take long for them to be able to enter the plane. They had seats somewhere in the middle. There was one seat left next to the aisle, but it stayed unoccupied which Nico was very thankful for. It was bad enough to fly, he didn't need some stranger sitting far too close to him. Will was seated next to the window. Nico took a deep breath and tried to calm down by looking at the boy next to him. Will was excitedly looking around. His eyes scanned the plane and then he started carefully reading the instructions on the seat in front of them. Nico rolled his eyes. Of course Will would read those. He was probably the only one on the whole plane who did.

'Don't roll your eyes, Sunshine', Will said without taking his eyes of the text in front of him. 'This is important information. They don't put it there for nothing. You should read it too.' He glanced at Nico side-ways, his eyes serious.

'I don't think so. Have you seen how much it is?' Nico's dyslexia wasn't nearly as bad as… say Percy's, for example, but it was still there. And he tried avoiding reading when he didn't have to.

'Well, you're lucky I'm here then. To help you when you feel sick, or if something goes wrong with the plane.'

'Yeah, what would I do without you?', Nico answered, his voice laced with a slight tremble. Will heard the concern in his voice and looked up. He put his hand on Nico's leg and squeezed lightly. 'Hey, I didn't realize you were this scared. Are you okay?'

Nico felt pathetic. The plane hadn't even started yet and he was already trembling. 'I don't really know. You know my relationship with Zeus is kind of complicated. The sky's his territory. I don't feel entirely comfortable going there.'

Understanding lit up in Will's eyes. He took Nico's hand and moved his fingers in circles. He knew Nico found this soothing. Will had once told him he liked to write down word sometimes. He wrote things like _I love you_ or _It's fine_ or _You're an idiot, I still like you though._ And whenever Nico tried to calm down, he tried to decipher Will's messages. Sometimes he succeeded, sometimes he didn't. He thought Will was writing _It's okay_ now.

'I don't think you know the whole story.', he took a deep breath. He never told Will the story of his mother's death. He thought maybe he knew, but he never even mentioned it when they were talking about flying, so Nico thought he probably didn't. 'Zeus killed my mother. We're not really the best of friends.', he finally said bitterly.

Will eyebrows scrunched together and squeezed Nico's hand. 'No, I – I didn't know that. Why didn't you say anything. We could've found a solution.'

Nico shook his head and forced a smile. He turned his head and looked eyes with his beautiful, concerned boyfriend. 'It's okay. I made peace with it. I'm fine.'

'You're not fine, darling. You don't have to pretend to be.' He pulled the armrest that separated them up and pulled Nico in. Nico rested his head on Will's chest and Will wrapped his arms around Nico, whispered soothing words into his hair. Nico was able to calm down and convinced himself he could survive the flight as long as Will kept doing what he was doing. They stayed like that for a while until they were far up in the sky and Will got excited about flying through the clouds.

'Look, Nico! It's amazing. We're going _through_ the clouds.', he screamed, looking out the window and bouncing up and down like a child.

'I can't believe _I'm_ the one who has never flown a plane.', Nico commented with an amused expression. He liked the way Will got excited over little things. Not that he'd ever admit it. He just watched him, smiling and forgetting about his fears and insecurities for a moment. Because, how could anything go wrong with this literal ball of sunshine next to him?

The rest of the flight went relatively well. Every time the plane moved a little bit, Nico jumped and took Will's sleeve and Will would smile and comfort him until Nico fell asleep on Will's shoulder.

He woke up a couple of hours later by Will shaking him. 'We're almost there, Nico. We're going to land in a few minutes.', he quietly said.

Nico opened his eyes and looked around disoriented. It took him a while to remember where he was exactly, the surroundings weren't familiar. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He suppressed a yawn and looked at Will. 'Did you let me sleep on your shoulder the whole flight? Why didn't you just push me off, your arm must be stiff.'

Will blushed. 'I didn't mind. You looked so peaceful asleep, I didn't want to disturb you.'

At these words, Nico blushed too. They were so lame. After three years of being together they still blushed over the smallest things. It drove Nico insane. At least that's what he made people think. Secretly, he loved it and kind of hoped it would never stop. He liked the thought of Will making him feel like this for the rest of their lives. It filled him with so much joy.

The stewardess told them they were about to land and that they had to put their seatbelt on. The plane slowly made its way down and it was the scariest thing Nico had ever lived. He may have been exaggerating a little bit, but it was definitely worse than going up. His stomach clenched, his ears buzzed and his whole body felt like it was about to be sucked out of the plane and dragged down where it would be splashed open on the ground and he would die. He took Will's hand and squeezed. Will squeezed back and smiled at him. Nico tried to focus on the feeling of Will's hand in his to forget the uneasy feeling in his stomach. He wondered if he felt every movement the plane made more clearly than everyone else because Zeus didn't want him there, or just because he had a weak stomach. He suspected the first. If you can live on pomegranate seeds for weeks, you can handle anything.

Eventually the plane landed and Nico was released from this nightmare. He actually started laughing out loud when the wheels hit the ground. Will looked at him with a funny expression.

'We're alive!', he told Will, still laughing. Will laughed too at that and they quickly became a giggling mess. Some people looked at them like they wanted to join in, but didn't know what was so funny. Nico barely noticed them. He just took Will's face in his hands and kissed him. Will made a surprised noise in the back of his throat. Nico was still a little taken aback by public display of affection. He was raised with the idea that holding hands was a big deal. So two guys kissing in public, would have been some sort of crime. But at the moment Nico didn't care about the people around them. Some part of him had really thought they would die, even if he didn't let that part consume his thoughts and had tried to push it down. But it had been there and now he let it out, happily.

They got out of the plane. The night was dark and thick with warmth. It weighted down on them like a nice blanket. The stars were shining brightly and the moon was golden and standing high up in the sky. This was Venice and for a second Nico was glad they didn't shadow-travel here, just to have that moment where you step out of a plane and feel the change in weather and temperature. When you see the lights of the airport in front of you. When you feel the wind in your hair when you stand up the ladder and you feel on top of the world. Maybe it was the adrenaline of the not-dying that made Nico feel this way, but he felt invincible.

He took Will's hand and descended the stairs. They went to get their luggage and find the hotel they stayed in. They were too tired to go eat something good so they settled with the commercial food from the restaurant in the hotel. They laughed and talked the whole night. Their vacation had already started. It only took them two hours to forget about the world and disappear in their own world that belonged to the two of them and no one else. They went to bed cuddling, tired of their long flight and with the prospect of tomorrow to dream about.

When Nico woke up the next morning, the first thing he thought was that he didn't want to move from Will's arms. Then he remembered that they were in Venice and sat up. He rubbed his eyes and turned his head to look at Will still sleeping on the bed next to him. A ray of sunlight came through a crack in the curtains and lit up Will's hair. The gold of his hair already gave of some kind of light, but the sun only intensified that. And as a contrast with the white sheets under him, it created some kind of halo. He looked like an angel.

He planted a kiss on his collarbone and moved down to his chest. Will stirred and Nico brushed their lips together. Will opened his eyes.

'If I knew this is how you'd wake me up, I would never get up early.'

Nico snickered and kissed him, deeper this time and longer. Will turned them around so that he was on top and Nico moaned, but Will pulled back. 'C'mon, Sunshine, we have a city to take over and hot Italians to spot.'

Nico rolled his eyes and got out of bed.

They quickly got dressed and ate breakfast. The hotel they stayed in, was small. The atmosphere was pleasant and the music in the cafeteria was calming. The people were very nice and the man at the front-desk that told them to have a good day when they left that morning, had one blue and one green eye. Which Will found fascinating.

When they stepped outside, they were greeted with the beautiful city that is Venice. Venice… is something else. It's extremely beautiful. Wherever you look, the buildings are authentic and beautiful. If you stay off the touristic attractions, you get the cutest little streets with barely any people. The water that floods through the streets makes everything that more charming. Nico had forgotten how lovely it all was. He dealt with magic on a daily basis, but this contained a much simpler and sweeter magic, somehow much more tangible. Filled with bittersweet memories and the feeling of coming home.

He looked at Will and he saw the same feeling flashing across his face. Well, not the same exactly, he imagined it wasn't as intense for him. He probably only felt the magic of all the history and people who had walked here before them.

They walked around all day, through little streets and looking into small shops. They both bought one of those masks the carnival of Venice was famous for. Well, Will bought one for him and Nico who begrudgingly chose an all-black one with a grey feather on the side.  
('It makes you look like the phantom of the opera.'  
'His mask was _white_ , William.')

They ate Italian ice-cream and _real_ pizza. Because ' _Will, pizza from pizza hut is not real pizza.'_ And Will spent his time admiring Nico whenever he talked Italian.

'You should talk Italian more often. It's very – I don't know, it's – It's hot, okay?' Nico laughed at that and proceeded to whisper something in Will's ear. Will didn't understand what he said, but the seducing tone of voice it was said in clearly suggested something inappropriate. (Will had his way with Nico that night and got his revenge for turning him on in the middle of a crowded city with no way to do something about it.)

And they weren't bothered by monster. The Hecate cabin created a mist even monsters can't look through. It was the first time they tried something like this and it worked surprisingly well. They were able to walk around the city without crazy, murderous cow things trying to attack them.

Their trip was perfect. Being in Venice with Will was perfect. But he knew there was something he needed to do before going back to New-York. He knew he'd regret it if he didn't do it.

'Will.', he said, the morning of the third day of the trip. They were eating breakfast and he had been quiet for a couple minutes. Will looked up from his plate at the serious tone of Nico's voice, his eyes laced with concern. 'I'd like to see my – the house I used to live in.'

Will nodded in understanding and smiled his sunny smile at him and the prospect of going there didn't seem all that bad. As long as Will was by his side, nothing was too hard. Since the moment they decided to come here, they had carefully avoided the matter, but he knew it had always been there in the back of their minds. Nico had hesitated. He didn't know if he wanted to do it. He knew it'd hurt him. The time they spent here had been wonderful and he wasn't sure he wanted to taint these new memories by digging up older ones. Eventually he had decided he wanted to do this, maybe it would give him some kind of closure. Maybe if he saw how long it had been, he'd feel less bitterly about his past. Maybe it would just make him feel nostalgic and he was worrying for nothing. Either way, he wanted to go and relive his childhood in the streets and neighbourhood he used to know like the back of his hand.

So, after breakfast they got on their way. Nico was surprised at how easy it was to find the way back to his childhood house. The closer they got, the more memories started to pop up in his mind and by the time they arrived to the house the images had taken over his mind. The house was a regular house, not very different than any other small house in Venice. It looked exactly like Nice remembered it.

He saw his younger self playing a game with one of the neighbours. With a jolt Nico realized that that boy was probably very old now and possibly dead. He saw Bianca coming down from the market with a basket full of vegetables. He saw his mother in the doorway, waving at them when they departed to school. She did that every day.

Will took his hand and gave it a squeeze. Nico started to talk about the memories out loud. 'There', he pointed at a the house next to him. 'that house was the house of my best friend. I – I don't even remember his name, but I know his mother always baked the best cookies. We had a cat, he liked to sit on the roof.', talking is hard when you're about to cry. Nico desperately tried to keep the tears inside which resulted in him breathing heavily and his voice cracking every couple words. He had to talk slowly to will the tears inside. 'My mother used to watch us play through the window while cooking. Every few minutes I – I looked at her and she'd smile at me. Her smile was so beautiful. Full of life and happiness. A little bit like yours. I lov – I loved her so much.' His head was overflowing with memories and his chest felt heavy with all the tears he kept inside. He kept stumbling over his words and those last words were the hardest, he wasn't able to continue without breaking down. So he didn't.

And it was true. He loved his mother and Bianca more than he loved anything. Nothing could compare. And it _wasn't fucking fair_ to take them away from him. He had been so young. He didn't think it would have been easier older, though. He would never forgive Zeus for killing his mother. She was the kind of woman anyone would be able to fall in love with. She was gentle and caring and loved with all she had. And Hades fell in love with her and truly loved her. Gods rarely cared about their mortal lovers so deeply as Hades cared about Maria di Angelo and that had to mean something. And that love basically lead to her death. Not for the first time Nico thought the fates must be extremely bitter and took it out on Nico with a twisted sense of irony.

'I – I just loved her so much and it's – it's so unfair that she had to die. I – I don't –' he didn't really know what to say. He just knew it was unfair and that he was mad and that, if he could, he'd get his revenge on Zeus. That if he could, he'd kill him.

Will took Nico's shaking form into his arms and held him close.

'it's okay to cry, Nico. You don't have to hold it in. There's no one here except for me. You don't have to hide from me.'

Nico didn't see him, but he thought he might start crying soon too. He told Nico once, that seeing Nico cry unclenched something inside and that he couldn't hold himself together. That he didn't really know how to explain. He didn't have too, though. Nico felt the same thing. And that's why he let his tears fall. Because Will was right of course, like he always was. Nico didn't need to hide from him.

They stayed like that in each other's arms, hugging the sadness and unfairness away. Finding comfort in each other and trying to chase away Nico's bad feeling and memories. After a while Nico looked up at Will.

'I'm sorry for ruining today. I really didn't mean to start crying.'

Will shook his head. 'You didn't ruin today by crying. Of course you'd cry. _I_ cried and they're not even my memories. Besides, today's not over yet.'

He took Nico's hand and pulled him with him, away from the place Nico used to called 'home' but could better be described as 'nightmare' now.

And when Nico left the house behind him, he _did_ get some kind of closure in the sense that he had relived everything and had let himself feel what he'd be suppressing for a while. Maybe the dark cloud, once rained out, would disappear and make place for the blue sky above. _The sun,_ he thought looking at Will, _had already managed to break through, though._

And it looked like the dark cloud was literally about to rain out. Suddenly the air turned chilly and the wind messed up their hair. The sky turned grey and the streets were deserted. Nico looked up at the sky and felt a drop of rain fall right on his nose.

'Quick! We'll find somewhere to hide!', Will screamed against the wind that rattled the roofs and that made the water churn. They were standing on a little bridge and the drops were falling like his tears had done earlier; a few at first, but more and more the longer he stood there. He looked at Will and just shook his head. He got a confused look in return. The air around was chillier than it had been before, but still quite warm. When the rain came down at its quickest, Nico took Will's face in his hands and crashed their lips together with such force, Will stumbled backwards and had to hold himself to the bridge. Their lips parted and moved with the same ease and familiarity they had done many times before. This time was special, though. And not just because of the rain drenching them both in a matter of seconds and making the kiss different than it ever had been. It was also special because Nico put all his emotions in the kiss. He wanted to tell Will how grateful he was to have him stand by his side all the time, even when he started crying on their perfect trip to Venice. That's why he kissed Will in an upcoming storm. To make it epic and one they would never forget. But also just for the hell of it.

Nico went through he hairs at the nape of Will's head and traced his jawline with his fingers. Will had made sure they were standing steadily and had pulled Nico as close to him as humanly possible. He was letting his hands travel across Nico's body as if his hands were cars that were doing a road-trip. Suddenly it was as if the sky got thrown and shattered; the thunder rolled all over them. That didn't stop them, the kiss only got more intense and it felt like they were trying to enter each other's bodies through the kiss. They were kissing with such force, if people hadn't known better, they might have thought the thunder was just the sound of their mouths, their teeth, their tongues clashing together. Nico was glad there weren't any people around. He thought they might have gone blind because of the passion they radiated.

When they pulled back, Nico felt his heart beating inside his whole body, but especially his lips; they were throbbing to the rhythm of his heartbeat. Will's face was flushed, his lips redder and more swollen than they normally were. His hair was dripping and his whole body was drenched, his chest was going up and down. He looked absolutely breath-taking in Nico's eyes. There was something in his eyes that made Nico blush.

Will let out a shaky breath. 'Wow, that was… intense, to say the least. Italy's doing strange things to you. Not that I'm complaining.'

'I've always wanted to kiss you in the rain.', Nico answered. Then he hid his face behind his face. 'I _cannot_ believe I just said that.'

Will's laugh echoed against the houses and harmonized beautifully with the raindrops hitting the surface of the water underneath them. 'Does anyone besides me know how much of a romantic Nico di Angelo aka The Ghost King actually is?'

' _No_ , and I'd appreciate it if we kept it that way.'

'Don't worry, I won't tell. But now that I know, I expect some more romantic gestures instead of you pretending to hate all kinds of physical contact.'

Nico rolled his eyes and pressed his lips to Will's once again, short and sweet. They were so caught up in each other, they had completely forgotten that they were standing in the pouring rain.

'Nico, can I ask you something?'

Nico nodded.

'Does Venice feel like home to you?'

Nico was quiet for a moment. Then he looked up to Will and shook his head. 'Not really. It get this feeling of nostalgia and childhood, but it doesn't really feel like home.' He took one of Will's hands in his own. 'No one I love or care about lives here, so… They might have better food, it still doesn't feel like home.', he finished with a smile. Will smiled back. What he wanted to say was _You're home for me._ But he was pretty sure Will had gotten that, anyway.

 **A/N: Thank you for reading. This turned out longer than expected, but I hope you liked it anyway.  
** **Please let me know what you think; comments make my day!**

 **Love,  
Vlindervin**


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